South African charity to stockpile water for dry Cape Town

South African charity to stockpile water for dry Cape Town

Melinda Barton
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31 January, 2018, 04:14

"We continue to call for full cooperation between the national departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and Water and Sanitation; the Western Cape Department of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning together with the City of Cape Town in finding solutions to this crisis", said Ms Cathy Dlamini, the Chairperson of the Committee.

Once the dams drop below 13.5% capacity taps in South Africa will be turned off.

"When you start talking "Day Zero" to an worldwide audience, you get quite a different reaction", he said.

Cape Town MMC JP Smith warned over the weekend that residents stockpiling water meant day zero would occur sooner.

Major cities running out of water is becoming the new normal according to The Climate Council.

She said that simply pumping money into projects in a bid to delay Day Zero was not the way to go to address the water crisis.

Cape Town residents face severe water shortages.

The level of Theewaterskloof Dam, once Cape Town's biggest provider of water, is now estimated at less than 10 percent.

"I think a lot of cities are going to go through challenges like this", said Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, which is an agency that promotes tourism and trade in Western Cape Province.

Rival political factions are arguing over alleged failures to prepare for the crisis. The authorities now hope for seasonal rains and are working to extract water from other sources and procedures, including desalination.

The city wants foreigners to follow the same guidelines that residents are following, including short showers.

Global tourists make up only 1 percent of Cape Town's population during peak season, but they support more than 300,000 jobs, according to the Wesgro agency. Hotels have removed bath plugs and ask guests to use towels a few times, reducing laundry loads.

Many tourists have canceled reservations because of the situation in the city.